Sony on Tuesday took the wraps off a redesigned VAIO Z laptop, which is scheduled to arrive in Europe at the end of July and will feature a proprietary version of Intel's Thunderbolt technology. Meanwhile, Apple has issued a firmware update to improve Thunderbolt performance.

VAIO Z

The new 13.1-inch VAIO Z will take on Apple's MacBook Air in the ultraportable category, weighing just 2.6 pounds with a thickness of 0.86 inches. In order to reduce the size of the notebook, Sony moved the optical drive and dedicated graphics to an external box, dubbed the Power Media Dock.

Though the dock uses a proprietary version of Intel's codenamed "Light Peak" architecture, which is the same technology that Thunderbolt is based on, Sony has chosen not to market the optical connection as such. Full details on the custom connection are lacking from the company's press release, but it appears Sony has forgone the Mini DisplayPort solution that Apple co-developed with the chipmaker.

In addition to a Blu-ray optical drive and AMD Radeon graphics, the Power Media Dock will include an ethernet port, additional USB ports, and VGA and HDMI outputs.

The VAIO Z features a 1600x900 display, Intel Core i7 processors and up to 256GB of SSD RAID storage. Sony also touts a Quick Boot feature that loads Windows 7 "up to 50% quicker than conventional notebooks."

The electronics giant plans to launch the notebook first in Europe at the end of July. Sony declined to provide details on pricing or the timing of international availability, though the laptop is expected to make its way to the States.

The first Thunderbolt-compatible peripherals are expected to arrive this summer. Storage maker LaCie demoed a "Little Big Disk" Thunderbolt solid-state drive last week, with read speeds of up to 827.2 MB per second. Several high end video equipment vendors are preparing breakout boxes and other devices that will take advantage of the technology.

The Cupertino, Calif., Mac maker has been steadily working out the kinks on Thunderbolt. In May, the company's new MacBook Pros and iMacs, currently the only Macs to support Thunderbolt, received several updates to improve performance and compatibility.

Unless this port does something dramatically better then the mini-display port, (Speed? Cable length?) then I'd say that this is just childish vindictive behavior. They need the port, but don't want to admit to using the best technology?

They did the same thing with firewire, calling it "iLink" and using only the camcorder version of the cable. This hurt both Sony, (People didn't know they could attach faster drives to their PCs) and Firewire. (People didn't realize how many windows PCs had Firewire.)

I'm glad to hear Sony will be using Thunderbolt, but I think it is extremely lame they will use a different name and a different connector. After all what is the point of creating a new standard if you are gonna use different names and connectors! I wish there was someone with the balls to say cut the crap Sony and call it Thunderbolt and use mini display port.

I'm glad to hear Sony will be using Thunderbolt, but I think it is extremely lame they will use a different name and a different connector. After all what is the point of creating a new standard if you are gonna use different names and connectors! I wish there was someone with the balls to say cut the crap Sony and call it Thunderbolt and use mini display port.

I thought Apple had exclusivity for 2011 which may be why Sony wasn't allowed to use go the mDP route. It could just be Sony working on getting TB poised for a real roll out next year with some trial models and using the USB port (which Intel was told by the USB-IF not to use) to work out some of the engineering kinks. IOW, next year we may see Sony start using the open mDP port as their TB port.

One thing to look for is performance between the two. I'm guessing that the same high-speed peripheral connected to a Mac running Mac OS via TB will be considerably faster than a Sony running .Windows. Call it a hunch.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Is this one laptop displayed two different ways. Or is this two parts for one machine?

"The new 13.1-inch VAIO Z will take on Apple's MacBook Air in the ultraportable category, weighing just 2.6 pounds with a thickness of 0.86 inches. In order to reduce the size of the notebook, Sony moved the optical drive and dedicated graphics to an external box, dubbed the Power Media Dock".

I'm glad to hear Sony will be using Thunderbolt, but I think it is extremely lame they will use a different name and a different connector. After all what is the point of creating a new standard if you are gonna use different names and connectors! I wish there was someone with the balls to say cut the crap Sony and call it Thunderbolt and use mini display port.

You can probably thank Apple for having a one year exclusive rights to Thunderbolt for why Sony is having to go the USB-like route.

Is this one laptop displayed two different ways. Or is this two parts for one machine?

"The new 13.1-inch VAIO Z will take on Apple's MacBook Air in the ultraportable category, weighing just 2.6 pounds with a thickness of 0.86 inches. In order to reduce the size of the notebook, Sony moved the optical drive and dedicated graphics to an external box, dubbed the Power Media Dock".

So it's 13% heavier and 26% thicker than the 13" MBA and while it does offer more total RAM it starts at $2,294 (UK site) and doesn't even include the dock, which is another $640.

Nice machine but I sure hope Sony isn't calling it a MBA killer.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

The thicker, heavier, more expensive laptop that comes with an extra box to make it work well?

I see how that will sell well. Sony does great things but has a habit of then either dumping them entirely or releasing a new model that is worse.

Comes with an extra box to make it work even better. The basic specs are better than the Air, and I think the dock idea is great, I wish more companies did it. I used a Henge dock with my MBP for while to see if I could combine my desktop/laptop to save money, it worked in theory, but needed a better dock. The new ByteDock might make me try again.

Comes with an extra box to make it work even better. The basic specs are better than the Air, and I think the dock idea is great, I wish more companies did it. I used a Henge dock with my MBP for while to see if I could combine my desktop/laptop to save money, it worked in theory, but needed a better dock. The new ByteDock might make me try again.

I also agree with the dock idea. I think that is the most interesting part of this announcement. It makes me hope that Apple might offer a new Superdrive external that combines a dedicated graphics card with the optical drive. Then you can overcome the limitations of the graphics of the new SB processors that will be in the Air. It would vastly improve the MBA's performance with both gaming and other GPU intensive processes, like Final Cut Pro or Aperture. This would also open up the Air as a viable option to more people, as they can have portability, and then use it more like a desktop replacement when the dock is attached.

The Cupertino, Calif., Mac maker has been steadily working out the kinks on Thunderbolt. In May, the company's new MacBook Pros and iMacs, currently the only Macs to support Thunderbolt, received several updates to improve performance and compatibility.

Consumer Beta was a complete failure. i.Link was a joke. The DRM was called ATRAC. Are you going to call that a success?

Yes but Beta was accepted as being technically superior to VHS which is why it stuck around in broadcast circles for years. Also ATRAC wasn't DRM, it was a custom compression system that predated the popularity of MP3. ATRAC was pretty impressive in that it allowed 'on-the-fly' compression by a portable device back in 1993. People complained that it was DRM because if you played an ATRAC compressed audio stream and converted it to ATRAC the quality sucked - guess what, that's true of MP3 too.

So it's 13% heavier and 26% thicker than the 13" MBA and while it does offer more total RAM it starts at $2,294 (UK site) and doesn't even include the dock, which is another $640.

Nice machine but I sure hope Sony isn't calling it a MBA killer.

lol -_- does no one look at specs..... i think this Sony sh*t is way to expensive also, but it comes starting with 256GB SSD, 2.70Ghz core i7, you get 3G radio in it, starts with better screen--1600x900 and you can upgrade to 1080p... (ofc i would preffer MBA 13' 16:10 format) than for $3000 you get AMD 6650M and blue ray.

i expect this price will be lower in US..... but unless its halved it won't sell to anyone but people who need mobile broadband, really badly...

is it worth more money than the MBA, yes. It it worth $1,000 over the MBA 13' with 256GB HD.... no, no fucking way.

it caters to a few people, mobile broadband, intense applications (CAD, heavy gaming, etc (but you could get a MBA and a faster desktop than this for under $2000 ))

so its really good if you want thunderbolt and mobile broadband?

PC means personal computer.

i have processing issues, mostly trying to get my ideas into speech and text.

I want Intel to release a statement that says, "This is not Thunderbolt or Light Peak. Sony is not legally allowed to sell this device under the Thunderbolt or Light Peak names. It does not meet the requirements of our specification in any way."

The big evil from Sony was the root kit: People innocently playing store-bought music CDs would, without their knowledge, have a root kit installed on their PCs that would install copy protection for audio CDS. It also accidentally (?) opened up security holes that allowed hackers to take over your system. If an ordinary person had done this it would be certain jail time, but Sony has the lawyers to make law meaningless.

But what I came here to say isn't a reply to you, actually — I think the headline here is wrong. If it doesn't use the MiniDisplayPort cable, it's not Thunderbolt. If it's BASED on Light Peak, but NOT Light Peak, it's not Thunderbolt.

On Sony's own page, they call it a proprietary port that "can also be used to attach regular USB devices to VAIO when it’s not docked," NOT Thunderbolt. The word "Thunderbolt" doesn't even appear anywhere on the page. This isn't a "we're calling it iLink but it's really Firewire" thing; it's a different connector entirely.

Sony isn't really creating any confusion or fragmentation of Thunderbolt here (because it's not Thunderbolt, if I didn't say that enough) — news sites like Apple Insider and PC World doing so are creating the confusion.

Multiplex is an online comic strip about the staff of a movie theater.

Sony isn't really creating any confusion or fragmentation of Thunderbolt here (because it's not Thunderbolt, if I didn't say that enough) news sites like Apple Insider and PC World doing so are creating the confusion.

Also ATRAC wasn't DRM, it was a custom compression system that predated the popularity of MP3. ATRAC was pretty impressive in that it allowed 'on-the-fly' compression by a portable device back in 1993. People complained that it was DRM because if you played an ATRAC compressed audio stream and converted it to ATRAC the quality sucked - guess what, that's true of MP3 too.

Sure, ATRAC itself is simply a way to compress audio. However, it was almost always accompanied by DRM on MiniDisc recorders/players. That, combined with it being completely proprietary, made it near impossible to get the digital version of your recordings off of anything but the very high-end MiniDisc recorders. Pain in the *ss indeed...

You can probably thank Apple for having a one year exclusive rights to Thunderbolt for why Sony is having to go the USB-like route.

Apple don't have exclusive rights to the format, they just got the spec before everyone else, which Intel said gave them an effective 12 month start - it was closer to 6 months though.

If I recall, Intel tried to build Thunderbolt using the USB port but were declined by the USB-IF because the port wasn't designed for this.

Whether Sony got a mixed message or decided to go their own way isn't clear but IMO, they went the correct route.

This design allows you to connect data ports and items like Blu-Ray directly to the USB 3 port while passing full TB bandwidth to a GPU. With the design that Intel/Apple went with, that other channel is reserved for a display, which you might not even have connected and to be perfectly honest, I don't like the idea of having a display daisy chained off something like a Blu-Ray drive anyway.

If I have a portable drive, I don't want to have to disconnect my screen to plug it in (the screen has to be the last in the chain). To put this into an example:

Sony's laptop has HDMI output even without the dock so if I plug it into a display, I still have the option to fully utilise both the USB 3 and the Thunderbolt.
Apple's Macbook Pro has a single port so if I plug in a monitor and I have a Thunderbolt portable drive, then I have to unplug the monitor before I can use it and even then, I'm a port down vs Sony.

That's even before the cost comes into it.

You now have to consider that if Sony can do this, what's to stop every PC manufacturer and device manufacturer from following Sony and using the USB port? They would be able to make portable USB 3 drives that operate over either USB 3 or TB with a single port. They also manage to make Apple's entire product line almost obsolete because few devices would work with it. All they'd have to worry about is incompatible marketing.

The big question I'd have is if Sony's design entirely prevents them from using devices like the Pegasus RAID systems and Lacie drive along with other products at NAB. If so, it's a bit of a fail. If it just needs a cable that costs less than $50, probably not.

Sure, ATRAC itself is simply a way to compress audio. However, it was almost always accompanied by DRM on MiniDisc recorders/players. That, combined with it being completely proprietary, made it near impossible to get the digital version of your recordings off of anything but the very high-end MiniDisc recorders. Pain in the *ss indeed...

You mean the way that AAC was often combined with Fairplay back in the day? Or for that matter the way that iTunes video still is?

People freaked about ATRAC DRM but really it was fine - I loved my little MDisc player before I got my iPod-2gen. It was far less aggressive and evil than blu-ray's DRM is.

You mean the way that AAC was often combined with Fairplay back in the day? Or for that matter the way that iTunes video still is?

People freaked about ATRAC DRM but really it was fine - I loved my little MDisc player before I got my iPod-2gen. It was far less aggressive and evil than blu-ray's DRM is.

But the thing is, iPods and Blu-Ray players are intended simply for content playback. Many MiniDisc players also had digital recording capabilities (and were marketed as such), which is what got prosumers who couldn't afford DAT equipment so excited about them.

Unfortunately, Sony didn't make it well known that even if you recorded your own material onto a blank MiniDisc (not talking about pirating commercial content), you'd have a h*ll of a time getting at the original (digital) copy due to the DRM which was stupidly added and the lack of anything else which could read ATRAC data. That's what really chafed many people (including myself) about ATRAC.

They also manage to make Apple's entire product line almost obsolete because few devices would work with it.

And what would stop Apple from releasing an adapter cable? The key isn't the USB port... it's that Sony appears to be using optical instead of electrical connections. There's apparently an optical terminal inside the USB port (so I've read). That means at the very least an adapter box to convert the electrical signal to optical, and is probably why Sony is saying it won't work with normal thunderbolt peripherals.

all told-- if it wasn't for the fact that Sony knew it couldn't make something sub 1,500 (and make margins it wants) that competes, and makes $, so instead it made something that costs twice as much-- with probably a hugeass margin (parts cost, 85$ ram, $100 screen, ~250$ cpu, 150$ gpu, about $100 blu-ray (probably a lot less)..)

so anyone see this profit margin? rofl

PC means personal computer.

i have processing issues, mostly trying to get my ideas into speech and text.